From being an Abandoned who had rarely left the Hollowed Grounds, to embracing the call of adventure, to dying and being reborn first as an Ascended and then as an Ancient, Maea has gone through quite the amount of changes in her life. One thing remains common, though, in her attempts to find out just where she belongs; she’s always had a craving for knowledge which has brought her to so many places and to meet so many people here in Caido. We can’t wait to see what else is in store for her!
Congratulations, Maea!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
Skinning and hosting by the epically talented Kaons, and functionality fanciness by the coding magic of Neowulf. If you ever see either of them around, make sure to show them some love!
“Yeah, there are a few different ways of making them, apparently.” Ronin flashes a grin across at Maeve as he prepares the pan for frying (and critically, for flipping) pancakes. He raises a hand as if to try to backtrack at her remarks; he’d not intended to judge, it was merely a surprise. “And they will live there again, just as soon as everything is all fixed up. Are you planning to head back once the monsoon season is over?” He assumes yes, but Caido has a way of pulling you in different directions.
Glancing back at her while he waits for the oil to heat up, Ronin can only tilt his head at the tells she gives; they don’t yet know each other well enough for him to make a guess, but then Maeve’s talking once more. “Regardless of what I might or might not have been told, I don’t think it’s polite to act on assumptions,” he says, shrugging his shoulders. “Do you want to tell me about it?”
Maeve smiles softly, finishing her coffee and standing to refill her mug, doctoring it until it was just how she likes it. She shrugs her shoulders, returning back to her seat at the island, hands tight on her mug, "Maybe. If I'm able to. I plan to rebuild, but there are a few different things on my plate right now." Maeve tells him quietly, chewing on her bottom lip as he shifts his attention between her and the pan he's preparing for the pancakes.
"And here I was thinking you didn't have any manners." She teases, lips twitching up into that same tight smile before she's hiding it behind the rim of her coffee mug as she takes a sip. Maeve sets her mug down, keeping her fingers wrapped around the ceramic as if the warmth will help to ground her as she leans heavily against the counter while her other hand fidgets with the pearls around her neck. "You remember how you told me that I should be careful with Sunjata? Yeah, starting to think that maybe he was the one who should have been careful with me." She says with a sigh, fingers running lightly over the pearls. "I was helping him.. With everything, I guess. Kamaria, himself, his loneliness."
Maeve begins softly, eyes dropping to the counter as she purses her lips, "I lo-" she cuts herself off, swallowing thickly, "-like him more than I should, probably. Wasn't really the plan, but it happened. He doesn't know, of course. Don't really think I should tell him either. Nate's going to come back. They're going to make a life together. That's that." Maeve shrugs her shoulders as if it doesn't make her chest ache or her throat tight. She wasn't just here for her body to heal, but her heart. She needed space. To straighten herself out. To focus on what she wanted. It wasn't anything he could give her. That much was for sure.
"That's not all, of course. I, uh, met Safrin too." She adds, hoping that maybe it will shift the subject off of Sunjata at least for the time being. "She gave me a quest."
Poor little girl still waiting for her happy ending
"Excuse me, madam, but I am an Outlander, and in my previous life I was a baron," Ronin informs Maeve with feigned haughtiness, and the twinkle in his eyes betrays his tone. "I wasn't a very good one, granted, but... it's the title that counts, right?" He turns back to what he's doing, and as Maeve speaks, Ronin listens and ladles pancake batter into the hot pan. With a sizzle, a bit of patience and a flick of his wrist, the Star flips the first one and manages to catch it in the pan. (He's done this a few times, and it's the only reason he makes it look remotely good).
Humming out a long sigh once she's finished and once the first pancake is on the stack, Ronin glances back at her. "Would it make you feel better or worse, for him to know?" he wonders. "It's not a decision anyone can make for you, but I suppose you just need to decide whether you can move on without letting him know how you feel. I imagine he's still grateful for everything you did for him. And if you just don't go back to Torchline, what then?"
Never mind the fact that he'll likely be visiting Stormbreak soon.
The remark about Safrin, though, does what Maeve is hoping, and Ronin's eyes light up as he starts on the second pancake. "Oh? What kind of a quest?" he asks. "Is it anything I can help with?"
His sudden haughty tone earns him an arched brow and a snort, "A baron? Please. As if I'm going to believe that someone actually gave you such a title." She drawls and if he wasn't so familiar with the way she likes to poke fun then he might of actually believed that she was calling him out. Travelling through the Wilds with someone will tell you a lot about them. Not enough that Ronin can read her fully, but enough for him to be able to tell she's at least teasing him about this.
Maeve watches him flip the pancake, eyes following it from the pan, into the air, and finally back to the pan again. She hums, bringing her mug back up to her lips so she has a moment to consider his question. Would it make her feel better to share that vulnerability with him when she knows that it wouldn't change anything? She'd be hurt either way. Whether he knew or didn't. There might be some regret that she never told him, but wouldn't that be better? Things weren't going to change. They weren't going to be together like that. No, it was likely best that she kept it to herself.
"I know he's grateful. He's told me as much and I believe him. I- I know that I helped a lot. Even if I was just a distraction, I was a good one. I need to be satisfied with that." Maeve finally says, setting her mug down once more and squaring her shoulders as she takes a breath. "We're friends. Even if I let my emotions get the better of me." She knows he's coming to Stormbreak and she knows that they're going to see each other again. She'll just have to learn to better compartmentalize. "I have to go back to Torchline, Ronin... That's my home. Those people are my family. I can't just abandon them."
Thankfully the subject shifts to talks of Safrin and she's better prepared to handle this, "Well, I hadn't ever gone to a shrine before. I wasn't sure she'd even talk to me." She's aware of how silly that seems now, but give her a break. The girl didn't know what to expect. "I asked her for the ability to be there for those who needed me no matter what. She's having me learn some things to make sure that I won't do more harm than good if I'm able to be there." The Madame explains, recounting what it was the goddess said to her. "I'm not sure... I have to learn about non-magical healing, train in combat, kill something, and also collect two items for her to transform. I've had some offers of help, but I haven't started anything yet."
Poor little girl still waiting for her happy ending
Ronin knows she's joking, and it's one of the only reasons that he doesn't snark back at her, merely responding with a slow raise of his eyebrows and a pointed flip of the pancake. That he manages to land it without looking is luck more than it is skill, but Ronin takes it nonetheless. He finishes that one off and pours another into the pan to cook while Maeve reasons out her not telling Sunjata any of her feelings, and he can only nod softly.
"You're stronger than I am for it," he says. "But then again I wear my heart on my sleeve more often than not lately. Was a time I'd be happy to lie about anything so long as it didn't affect me personally." Not any more. "I don't blame you for wanting to go back, either. It's difficult, to leave home behind." Smiling, he turns his attention instead to Safrin and her quest for Maeve.
Tilting his head, he smiles to hear she's had offers of help already, flipping another pancake to add to the stack. "Well, I can help you to train, and to kill something. Depending on the items, I might be able to do something as well. Just let me know what you need, if you'd like a hand."
He's lucky that he lands that flipped pancake back in the pan. Otherwise she would have given him so much shit. That's what sisters do. Adopted or not. He has her distracted by his questions about Sunjata and Torchline. Enough that she doesn't have the mind to give him more of a hard time about his supposed baron title.
"It would do more harm than good. Let's be honest, Ronin... He's not going to want me like that. Not when he has Nate. He needed a friend and that's what I was. Anything else was just temporary. Ultimately I'd rather have him in my life as just that then not at all." Maybe that's why it's easier to swallow. She'll be okay. She'll eventually remove the hooks he's managed to sink into her heart and move on from the hold he has over her. Time and distance will work in her favor with this at least. "If I didn't have so many people depending on me then I might consider somewhere else, but at the end of the day my workers need me." Maeve kind of needs them too even if she doesn't say it.
She smiles back and it reaches her eye this time, "Thanks. I appreciate it." Maeve pushes away from the island, moving around the side to watch more closely. Her lips purse as he ladles more batter into the pan, waiting for it to bubble before he flips it. "Can I try one?"
Poor little girl still waiting for her happy ending
Ronin sighs out a non-committal sound that's nonetheless an agreement, the Star nodding to her and reaching across with a hand that's streaked with flour to muss at Maeve's hair. She's not the only one who can give shit and a hard time. "Then here's to you and your workers. You're lucky to have each other, and if you want help to get the Halenani back up to par, just give me a nudge. I helped to build the original one," he says with a grin.
Then she's at his elbow as he flips his next pancake and adds it to the stack, the Star raising his eyebrows over his shoulder. "Try one to eat, or try one to flip?" he asks, before stepping aside to let her have control of the pan and the batter. "If you get batter on the ceiling, I'll never forgive you."
Maeve doesn't manage to duck away in time. Stupid Ronin with his stupid long arms. Who even has arms that long? (His arms are a normal length, but he got flour in her hair which is grounds for such accusations.) She narrows her eyes, swatting at his hand, "Oi! Fuck off with that mess!" Maeve grumbles, glaring at him playfully and he's lucky that there isn't any spare flour to sling. Otherwise he'd be in for a world of trouble.
She smiles, nice and bright, causing her nose to wrinkle as she reaches up to brush the flour from her hair. "Remi owes me a favor, but maybe if I promise food and you working shirtless he'll come on his own accord." The food wasn't for Remi. That was for getting Ronin to be there. Which would then lead to Ronin shirtless and hopefully a happy to help Remi. Oh yeah, it was all coming together.
"Try one to flip. I bet I can do it." Maeve grins up at him, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she bumps him with her hip to move him out of the way. "You will absolutely forgive me." She responds, tone matter of fact as she ladles a generous scoop of batter into the pan. Maeve waits for bubbles to form and pop the way Ronin has been doing before attempting to flip. One, two, three... Sorry, Ronin.
With a bit too much gusto, Maeve flips the pancake. It goes up and up and up before promptly smacking against the ceiling where it sticks for a moment before falling back down, breaking on the edge of the pan. She grimaces, trying in vain to contain her laugh as she looks up to see the circle of batter left behind. "Whoops."
Poor little girl still waiting for her happy ending
Ronin cackles like a child, and he does fuck off, but not far. Just far enough to pour himself some more coffee and to watch as she takes over pancake flipping. Is he judging her over the rim of his coffee mug? Nooooo. No. That doesn't sound like Ronin at all. "Food and working shirtless, mm? Well it is Torchline in Longheat I suppose. And I'm repairing the Halenani. It only feels right to be half naked."
Oh but then it's time to flip, and Ronin waits with baited breath to see how Maeve is going to do. It's a good thing he's just lowered his mug from his lips, too, because at the spectacular failure, the madame would have been sprayed with coffee. "Oh wow," Ronin drawls, his gaze still on the pancake circle on the ceiling. He's not looking at the mess on the stove. Not yet.
"That one is yours to eat," he informs her, nudging her with his hip right back to get her out of the way. "Well I consider myself told. You can certainly murder a pancake."
Ronin can judge all he wants. It isn't going to stop her from trying to flip this pancake like the best pancake flipper to ever flip pancakes. As it turns out, Maeve shouldn't quit her day job. She is not born to be a pancake flipper it seems. Even though it goes terribly wrong, it's still pretty funny and Ronin isn't even mad. That's a win in her book. She laughs, sticking her tongue out at him because she is absolutely a child and he can just deal with it. "Feed that one to Sugar. I bet she'll like it even though it's ugly." It still seems like it'll taste good. Even if it is a little burnt and malformed.
She's still giggling when he pushes her away from the stove, but she doesn't go far. Clearly she's going to continue to cause plenty of trouble. "So you'll help then? Promise?" Maeve asks, arching her brow as she crosses her arms over her chest lightly, leaning against the counter nearby.
Poor little girl still waiting for her happy ending
"How dare you." Ronin giggles - yep, giggles. "My dragon will eat that one, and the rest if you leave her alone with them for any length of time." And that's why Sugar isn't allowed into the kitchen in the mornings any more unless it's a special occasion or Ronin forgets. (So basically she's always allowed in the kitchen anyway). Having taken back over, he carefully rescues the broken pancake and sets it on its own special plate away from the stack, before quickly cleaning up and starting on the next ladle of batter.
Glancing across, Ronin raises his eyebrows at her as if worried that she's going to trick him into a blood oath to try and rebuild the Halenani or something. "I promise," he says slowly, "unless something urgent comes up anyway. I mean like... my son is sick urgent. Otherwise, me and my shirtless self will be there for food when it comes time to do the work."
Speaking of food, they're about two pancakes away from digging in. So Ronin falls into comfortable silence, and proceeds with caution on his next pancake flip.
